


Some toast and the family crust

by floatingaway4



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25403290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingaway4/pseuds/floatingaway4
Summary: Catechism:1. a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.2. a series of fixed questions, answers, or precepts used for instruction in other situations.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 40
Kudos: 176





	Some toast and the family crust

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for the sappiness of this. Even Henry and Alex rolled their eyes at me when I was writing it.

Alex is working on his laptop at the kitchen table and talking to one of the paralegals on the phone when Ellie pads down the stairs in her nightgown. 

“Hey, I gotta go. If you can just send me the edits, I’ll call you later. Thank you so much.” He pushes his laptop aside and opens his arms to his daughter. “Come here, _amor_. How are you feeling?” 

Ellie rubs her eyes and climbs into Alex’s lap. “I’m hungry.” 

“You are?” He carries her on his hip to the kitchen, pours her a cup of the Pedialyte they had left over from last time, and returns to the table. He feels her forehead, relieved that she only seems sleep-warm, not fever-warm. He pushes his plate toward her. “Try a bite of toast.” 

She leans sideways against Alex’s chest and nibbles on the bread. He feels her forehead again and drops a kiss on her hair, hair that’s just a shade lighter than Henry’s. 

“Can I have cereal?” 

“Nope, no milk for you today.” Ellie had walked into the kitchen that morning and immediately vomited all over the floor. Alex had barely dodged out of the way and even though he’d tried to shove his husband sideways, Henry’s shoes weren’t salvageable. He’d sent Henry to change and go to work, left a message with the pediatrician, gave Ellie a bath, and put her back to bed. Cleaning up the kitchen was one of those glamorous parenting things they don’t tell you about when you decide to have kids. They wait til you’re already in love with the little monsters. 

This, though, working at home and holding her on his lap, this isn’t so bad. She snuggles under his chin, and he can feel her fingers mindlessly tracing the faded lettering on the Oxford t-shirt he’d grabbed when he’d changed clothes. The ruffles on her nightgown tickle his legs. 

“Where’s Jamie?” she asked. 

“Lila took him to the park.” Alex knew he could have gone to work and left both kids with the part-time nanny, but he had a flexible schedule today. He takes a gulp of coffee, his eyes drifting toward the CNN crawl on his laptop screen. 

Ellie picks at the frayed collar on his shirt, then slides her hand under it and tugs out the chain he wears around his neck. She rubs the key and the ring between her fingers, then taps them together. She’s liked playing with them since she was a toddler and they were just shiny things Alex could dangle in front of her when he needed a distraction. 

“This is the key to Grandma Ellen’s old house,” she says softly. 

“Yep,” he answers absently, slightly distracted by an incoming email. They’ve had this conversation before. He’s noticed this seems to be how little kids learn things. They repeat the same questions over and over, even if they know the answer, like catechism. 

“And this is the ring Daddy gave you when you were dating.” 

“Yes.” Dating might not be the most precise term for what they were doing, Alex thought, but their daughter doesn’t need to know that. 

Ellie yawns and holds the ring up to her eye to look through it. “How come you don’t wear it on your finger?” 

Alex holds out his left hand. “Because I already have a ring from Daddy there.” 

“You could wear it on another finger.” 

“I could,” he acknowledges, “but it’s a little big and I don’t want to lose it.” 

“Because it’s special,” she says, echoing what he's told her so many times before. 

“Because it’s special,” Alex agrees. “Plus, when Daddy gave it to me, it was kind of a secret. I think I just got used to wearing it here.” He taps a finger over his heart.

“Why was it a secret, Papa?” she asks.

Shit. That’s what he gets for breaking Courtroom Rule Number One: never provide more information than the attorney asks for. Alex thinks about how to explain it without telling his daughter about complicated family dynamics and international relations and homophobia and the fact that her great grandmother isn’t the nicest person. She’ll learn all those things too fucking soon.

“Lots of reasons,” he tries. And it seems to get him off the hook for now but he’ll need to work on that one. 

She rubs a finger over the engraved surface. “This is Daddy’s family crust.” 

Alex grins over her head. “Crest, baby. Family crest. And it’s yours too.” 

“It’s pretty.” 

“It is,” he agrees, taking another swig of coffee. 

“Why is there a lion?” 

Alex knows the answer, and he knows the next few questions like he’s following a script, but he also knows it’s not really his story to tell. He strokes her hair and kisses her head. 

“You know what? When Daddy gets home, you can ask him, and he’ll tell you about the lion and all the other parts of the picture again.” 

She nods against his chest. “Why did he give it to you?” 

Alex raises his eyebrows. That’s a new one. He puts her drink to her lips, giving him time to think. He's learned that parenting is about 25% well-intentioned planning and 75% improvisation. He feels like he says the wrong thing more often than not, even though Henry assures him that’s not true. 

“Well, when I was dating your Daddy, he lived in England and I lived in America so we didn’t get to see each other as much as we wanted. So one time when I was visiting him, he gave me the ring to keep so I’d have something that reminded me of him.” Alex runs that answer back through his head and decides it sounds reasonable. It’s not the whole truth, he thinks, but he isn’t under oath. 

She slides her tiny index finger through the ring and tilts her head up a little. “Were you sad, that you didn’t get to see him all the time?” 

Something catches in his throat. Jesus, she’s Henry’s daughter. She’s always been so empathetic and sensitive. She worries about how other people feel and cries at sad movies. She even kisses all of her stuffed animals good night so none of them feel left out. 

It occurs to him that his own daughter just asked him a question that none of his friends or family had ever asked, during the whole episode with the leaks and being outed by the press. People had asked them what they'd been thinking, if they'd considered the consequences. They'd asked him if he realized the damage he'd done, if he knew all the negative ways this could affect both of their lives, their countries, their careers. If they'd realized this couldn't possibly work. No one had ever asked him, at least not so directly and simply, if they were sad when they weren't together.

Maybe one day, when she's older, he'll tell her the real answer. That yes, he'd been sad, and had felt like half his heart had been ripped from his body and left somewhere just outside his reach. That the emails and texts that seemed so huge to everyone else had really just been like crumbs to someone who was starving. 

"Papa?" 

“I was," Alex has to clear his throat, "sometimes.” He puts his thumb and forefinger around the ring so they’re holding it together. “But you know what? When Daddy gave me this ring, it was like he was promising me that one day we would be together forever. And then I wasn’t as sad anymore.” 

“That’s good,” she says, her voice fading. She leans into his chest again and he hears and feels her breathing even out. He sees a text from Henry pop up on his phone and carefully leans to pick it up. 

**_Did you hear from the doctor?_ **

  
  


**_Yeah, she said don’t worry unless_ **

**_it lasts more than a day or she has a_ **

**_fever_**

**_She ate some toast and I’m_ **

**_not wearing it yet, so that’s progress_ **

**_She’s awake?_ **

**_She was...hang on_**

Alex takes a selfie of himself from the neck down, so it’s just Ellie asleep against his chest. Before he sends the picture, he realizes she fell asleep with her little hand wrapped around the ring. Christ, his heart can’t handle this. 

**_First of all, I can’t even_**

**_Second, she was_ ** **_asking about your ring. I told her_ **

**_you’d_ ** **_tell her about it again when you get home_ **

There’s a long pause before Henry replies and Alex suspects it’s not because he suddenly got busy with work. 

**_When I gave you that ring, I never in a million years_ **

**_thought we’d end up here_ **

**_Where? Living in New York with_ **

**_puke on your shoes?_ **

**_Stop rolling your eyes at me_ **

**_I love you babe_ **

**_I love you too_ **

**_I’m going to have to throw those shoes away_ **

**_Already done_**

Henry comes home early in the afternoon with his hands hidden behind his back. Alex has been texting him updates throughout the day so he isn't surprised to see Ellie settled on the couch watching cartoons, Jamie in his baby seat nearby. Alex walks out of the kitchen to meet him and Henry leans in for a quick kiss. Alex creases his brow and pulls him back down for a little extra. "What are you hiding?" 

Henry pulls out a bunch of red and yellow roses. "These are for you." 

Alex looks up at him anxiously. "Shit, did I forget our anniversary? Wait, no. What--"

Henry rolls his eyes fondly. "No, those are to thank you for taking care of our daughter today, and for cleaning up--" he gestures toward the kitchen, "that." 

"Aw, baby!" He does love gifts, but not as much as he loves the big, goofy smile that crosses Henry's face when he gives them. Alex tries to peek behind him. "What else you got back there?" 

With his other hand, Henry produces a bottle of Maker's Mark. Alex clutches it to his chest dramatically. "Wow, sweetheart, you do know me!" Alex sets his gifts on the counter and drapes his arms over Henry's shoulders for another kiss. "Have I told you lately how much I love being married to a big sappy romantic?" 

"I'm pretty sure you used to tease me about that," Henry says in a low voice, holding him tight around the waist as his lips hover over Alex's. 

"Me? Huh. No, that must have been some other guy," Alex mutters, as they teasingly taste each other's lips. 

"Some other Alex?" He can hear the laughter in Henry's voice. 

Alex nods, his voice a nearly breathless whisper. "Mmmm," he hums against Henry's mouth. "Must've been. Whoever this other Alex was, he sounds like a stupid, stupid man." 

"Daddy!" Ellie calls from the sofa. "Come watch Dora with me!" 

Alex drops his head to Henry's shoulder with a sigh. "Go. We'll continue this later." 

"Be right there, love." He starts to walk away but Alex pulls him back by the shoulder. He lifts the chain over his head and drops it over Henry's. "You're gonna need this. You know she doesn't forget anything." Henry nods, then scoops Jamie onto his lap and sits down next to Ellie. Alex knows from experience Henry will make funny comments and wrong guesses to Dora's questions, just to make Ellie laugh. 

The next time he looks toward the living room, he sees two blond heads bent over the ring Henry is holding in his hand. He can hear Henry's low voice murmuring explanations as he points. 

Alex straightens his flowers in their vase. He wouldn't trade any of this for the world. Even if it means he has to clean up a little puke once in a while. 

****

**Author's Note:**

> I stand behind the idea that Henry and Alex buy each other flowers. Henry started it, then Alex decided to do it too because he knew it would make Henry happy. I will die on this hill.


End file.
